“Fuel the magic” expands into F1 Academy

Disney and F1 have expanded their multi-year partnership to include F1 Academy, Formula One’s racing series focused on female drivers. Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck will lead the girl-power push, with the Mouse House launching a collection of exclusive merchandise, character meet and greets and digital content in May to attract new female fans to motorsports. LEGO also recently expanded its deal to include F1 Academy as the racing series looks to grow its appeal among girls, and that toyco plans to field a new car in the racing league driven by Dutch driver Esmee Kosterman. 

Pinkfong bolsters its UK presence with LBE 

The South Korean prodco is teaming up with Outernet London to launch Baby Shark’s Easter Splash exhibition on March 30, which will bring the franchise’s characters to life for families in Central London in an indoor experience where the walls and ceilings are massive 8K-resolution screens. Pinkfong will follow this up in May by rolling out a new 20-stop family touring show with the Ents Group titled “My First Concert”. The production will see Pinkfong and Baby Shark team up to create a live musical adventure packed with nursery rhymes. 

Prime Video extends partnership with Leonine Studios 

A renewed multi-year deal gives Amazon’s streamer exclusive SVOD rights to the studio’s premium titles in Germany and Austria and covers all Leonine films released in theaters starting the beginning of this year. Leonine’s catalogue includes The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, The Magic Faraway Tree and Toon2Tango-produced titles Monster Loving Maniacs and School of Magical Animals.

Penguin Random House signs Molang publishing deal

The global agreement (excluding Japan and Korea) between Miliimages and Penguin will see the publisher create and roll out a range of Molang activity books over the next three years. The first title, Molang Cafe Cuties: A Cosy Coloring Book, will launch in July, followed by two more coloring books slated for October and February. 

Fauna secures Turkish publishing partners for Kurio and Okido

The Turkey-based licensing agent has appointed Doodle Productions to rep publishing sales for both CG-animated preschool properties. Doodle has already inked two new deals for the IPs with local publishers, with Doğan Çocuk rolling out a Kurio magazine and Turkuvaz Medya publishing an Okido magazine before the end of the second quarter.